1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that includes a plurality of components and calculates an operation amount of each of the components, and an image forming system that includes the image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a failure occurs in a part of various types of devices, depending on the type of the part, the device cannot be used until the part is replaced by a new one, and this imposes inconvenience on a user.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2005-257781 discloses an image forming apparatus that calculates remaining lifetime of a fixing device based on the operation amount of the fixing device, and displays the remaining lifetime thus obtained on a display unit. The conventional image forming apparatus allows a user to determine whether the fixing device will be worn out soon based on the remaining lifetime displayed on the display unit. Accordingly, when the fixing device is likely to be worn out soon, it can be replaced before being worn out. Thus, downtime of the image forming apparatus due to a failure of the fixing device can be reduced.
In the conventional technology, however, replacement of a part or a component such as the fixing device is not always correctly performed. That is, if a user obtains a secondhand part of the image forming apparatus in some way, and a part of his/her image forming apparatus is likely to be worn out, the part can be replaced by not by a new one but the secondhand part. In this case, even if the part is has been used and deteriorated to some extent, the remaining lifetime thereafter is calculated as a new part. Consequently, it is determined that there is a sufficient time until the part is worn out when the part may be worn out soon.